I had the great pleasure of traveling out to Chicago for Star Wars Celebration 2019. This is my second celebration and I somehow had even more fun than in Orlando. There is just something heartwarming about finding one of your tribes. A group of people you have a kinship with. And these Star Wars fans are welcoming and wonderful.
I’m excited for the new branches of the galaxy far, far away. The Mandalorian seems to be right in the vein of the Star Wars novels, games, and comics I grew up on back in the mid-90s.
My soul got such a charge out of the whole five days. I met some fantastic people. Hung out all weekend with a great friend and co-pilot. And had once in a life time opportunities that will have a lasting effect on my life.
Glad to be part of this family, and veey excited to do all again in Anaheim in 2020!
Our little city prize winner “The Cavendish Affair” has it’s debut on an international stage here in Orlando. We had the pleasure of attending the awards ceremony at this beautiful outdoor amphitheater. So many splendid films. A fantastic time.
So we attended Pittsburgh’s Best of the 48 screening tonight. While hopeful we were not expecting what happened. We won! Like the whole thing. We are headed to Filmapalooza 2019 in Orlando Florida. So humbled.
The Cavendish Affair winner of...
Audience Choice
Best Actor
Best Cinematographer
& Best of Pittsburgh
We had another enjoyable stress festival of making a movie in 48 hours. This year the draw was action adventure or slapstick. We took those assigned genres and just mushed them together. Then spice with the required elements; Hunter or Harper Drakely, health inspector; a die or dice as a prop; and the line “Did you read my tweet?” Add that together and we end up with our take on a bad day for a super villain... THE SAFEST GAME
We had a blast making it and are pretty proud of it. And the judges liked it too. We won four prizes for it. Best use of Character, Best use of Dialogue, Best Costuming, And Best Makeup.
My first trip adventure of the year was to the golden land of Orlando. So I haven’t been to a Disney park since I was 6. I was surprised how many memories of the magic kingdom had stuck when I saw things through an adult’s eyes. It was also amazing to see all things I never saw. When I was there as a child it was the month MGM Studios opened (my mom cleverly seeing the opportunity to avoid crowds in the magic kingdom.) So I have never experienced Epcot (though I loved it from afar,) Hollywood Studios, not the Animal Kingdom. And I had my Best friend along the journey the whole time and his lovely wife on Magic Kingdom day. It was a blast and a treasured cache of memories.
Pros: Wow Disney is amazing, Disney Springs is so pleasant, Everest is a great coaster, Epcot and all the Worlds Fair vibes made me feel great, finally getting to ride Star Tours
Cons: Animal Kingdom was over a bit to soon maybe Avatar will expand it to a full day park, heavy rain drenched us on Magic Kingdom day, Star Wars Land wasn’t opened yet
Wow! Just Wow! We had blast working with a small team right up to the buzzer. We finished with three minutes to spare. Phew! Taking the elements of Vince Frank, Auto Mechaninc; A Paintbrush; and the line "That's one way to make your point;" we built something great. We had decided to dive deep and make a true horror film. And that we did.
Pulled Mad Scientist for the 3rd Time in a Row
Let's make a Movie!
We are Murdering
Before the plunge into the Basement
Darkness Within
Keeping our Leading Lady Warm in the Murder Basement
Editing
Everybody Pushing the Finish
VFX Wizard!
We made it with minutes to Spare. Good thing we finished in the car... on the way there.
Phew! Decompressing after delivering
Finally Watching our film together for the first time.
Yet another fantastic 48 Horor Film Project in the can. I twas an amazing year. We some how drafted Mad Scientiest / Frankenstien again, but no matter, we jumped in. Deciding to make something more a kin to a spoof we pounded out a script highlighting our main ingredients. It turned out great!
It was that time of year again. Time fo the 48 Hour Film Project. It's been a whirlwind since the last time we were here. A year of amazing things.
This time drew the dreaded western and musical genre. Be we took it head on. Our Character was Seth or Sara Tremaine, Our prop was a mug, and Our line was "You can't take it with you."
After our award winning film last year, our teammate moved down to Austin, Texas. And of course we saw this as an opportunity to get into two 48 hour film projects. Gathering an amazing talent pool together the folks calling themselves "Media Offline" built something amazing. Working over the net I was able to help do some of the writing. Our local VFX wizard actually headed south and pitched in. With three team members working on it from the original Gaff Tape & a Prayer it felt like opening another branch. But really it turned into something original and amazing.
Wow, what an amazing trip. For those who have never had the chance to attend a Penny Aracade Expo I cannot recommend it enough. They have been, in my experience, some of the nicest and most enjoyable conventions I have attended. Attendees are polite and cool folk. Panels are engaging. The sellers are great. And it is one of the few places you get the opportunity to mingle with video game creators outside of trade shows.
Thanks to a robust and friendly community, even tried my hand at the wacky world of costuming this year. Cosplay has always been well represented at PAX and while I'm not sure my StarLord costume knocked it out of the park I had a blast! But seriously my good friend's Cobra Commander is just awesome.
A fun way to get a way for a while. Enjoy a bit of geek culture and community.
Cobra runs on Dunkin'
Meeting up with some of my favorite people
Star-Lord and Gamora
It's a huge show, there is only about third of it behind me
Talk about an amazing journey. A group of my talented friends and I made a film for the 48 Hour Film Project. And you know what we won the Pittsburgh City Project. That meant we were entered to show our film in Hollywood at the international level competition Filmapalooza, with a chance to win a showing at Cannes. Half a year later I was on a plane to California. And what an amazing time. We didn't get to Cannes but the experiences and people I met with are priceless. And I could not have asked to be in Hillywood with a better group of filmmaking buddies. It will stand as a milestone in my life.
I had yet another opportunity to travel to the Big Apple. Mostly took time to hit tourist stuff I did have time for on more strictly business trips. It was a blast and I always fall more in love with the city every time I visit.
